The St. Louis Vipers make their return to the local sports complexion this May and the reveal of the team’s 2020 docket was made Tuesday.
The popular inline roller hockey franchise that last took to the sport court in 1999 will be a part of the four-team National Roller Hockey League (NRHL) and will skate in the League’s season launcher on Friday, May 22 against the Detroit Dragons in a game that takes place in Fraser, Michigan.
The begins the Vipers’ 26-game regular season that includes the team’s home opener at Family Arena in St. Charles on Saturday, May 30 against the Grand Rapids Warthogs.
The NRHL released their entire 13-week season that consists of 52 games played overall. Each team’s schedule of 26 games contains a 50/50 split of home/away contests with the regular season finishing up in mid-August.
“We have spent many hours working with the teams, arenas, and our leadership on completing the schedule,” said NRHL Co-Founder Commissioner Bob Clouston in a press release earlier this week. “We are excited to finally have our schedule buttoned up to position ourselves where we are today, which is moving full-steam ahead.”
The Vipers have already been building their arsenal over the past six Saturdays with selections made at the NRHL’s weekly draft. The team has selected five high-scoring veteran defensemen within their first six picks and will continue to stockpile personnel with a final round this weekend and with an ensuing supplemental March draft.
The Vipers will play multiple games in each of the 13 weekend scrambles and will only have a break the Fourth of July weekend.
After starting their season with three road games, St. Louis begins a five-game home stretch that begins with the aforementioned home opener and concludes with a Saturday, June 13 game at Family Arena against Detroit.
Other notable home events include back-to-back home games against Port Huron on June 26-27 and July 10-11 as well as two in a row at Family Arena against Detroit July 31 and August 1.
The Vipers’ regular season concludes with home games against Grand Rapids August 14 and 15.
Former St. Louis Blue Perry Turnbull, who coached the Vipers when they won the RHLI Murphy Cup Championship in 1999, helms the bench for their 2020 return.
Season tickets for the 13-game home schedule at Family Arena are available at their official website. The team currently has a “100 for $100” season ticket promotional package in place where the first 100 people that claim season tickets in specifically marked seating sections (mostly in the lower bowl corners) can get all 13 games for $100.
For more information on the Vipers, visit their official website.
2020 ST. LOUIS VIPERS SCHEDULE
HOME GAMES AT FAMILY ARENA ST. CHARLES
FRI 5/22 AT DETROIT
SAT 5/23 AT PORT HURON
FRI 5/29 AT GRAND RAPIDS
SAT 5/30 VS. GRAND RAPIDS
FRI 6/5 VS. GRAND RAPIDS
SUN 6/7 VS. GRAND RAPIDS
FRI 6/12 VS. DETROIT
SAT 6/13 VS. DETROIT
FRI 6/19 AT PORT HURON
SAT 6/20 AT DETROIT
THU 6/25 AT GRAND RAPIDS
FRI 6/26 VS. PORT HURON
SAT 6/27 VS. PORT HURON
FRI 7/10 VS. PORT HURON
SAT 7/11 VS. PORT HURON
THU 7/16 AT PORT HURON
FRI 7/17 AT GRAND RAPIDS
SAT 7/18 AT DETROIT
THU 7/23 AT GRAND RAPIDS
FRI 7/24 AT PORT HURON
FRI 7/31 VS. DETROIT
SAT 8/1 VS. DETROIT
THU 8/6 AT GRAND RAPIDS
FRI 8/7 AT DETROIT
FRI 8/14 VS. GRAND RAPIDS
SAT 8/15 VS. GRAND RAPIDS
The whole NRHL schedule can be found here.
By trade, he is a six-time, regional Emmy Award-winning news videographer/editor for KTVI/KPLR-TV. By hobby, he is a writer for Arch City Media, dating back to February 2014. Emphasis is on featuring and promoting local women's sports, but will cover anything that is not reported by traditional media outlets. Also a contributor to local concert reviews.
